Translated from the (German) instructions on the final step of submitting a project plan for funding:
Please specify exactly how many and which publications you will publish over the next three years.
Yeah, right.
Lecturing is getting increasingly bipolar
In this fifth semester of the COVID-19 pandemic, I can’t help but predict that teaching by way of lectures will be getting more bipolar. I foresee two main modes of lecturing:
- Increased use of videos in online lecturing rather than live performances
- Traditional in-person lecturing without serious online presence
This may hardly sound surprising, but some of the underlying mechanics that are leading me to this prediction may. There are two noteworthy developments:
Continue reading “Lecturing is getting increasingly bipolar”Best Practices for Page Numbers in Article Submissions
Should you add page numbers to articles you submit for review? Absolutely. Why? Because it will make it easier for reviewers to comment.
Should you have page numbers in an article you are preparing for submission? Absolutely. Why? Because your coauthors will find it easier to comment. (Not everyone will always be online; I still comment a lot on paper thanks to Deutsche Bahn and Vodafone.)
Continue reading “Best Practices for Page Numbers in Article Submissions”Using Open Source to Align Academic Client-Supplier Relationships
Open source is a boon for academic project collaboration. As long as the collaboration is not only voluntary, but also on equal footing, everyone can contribute and benefit under the guidance of an open source license and processes. However, as soon as money flows between the partners, the lawyers will want to have their say, and things get complicated. Fortunately, open source can fix this as well.
Continue reading “Using Open Source to Align Academic Client-Supplier Relationships”What Does Customer Success Mean for a Professor?
A professor raises funds, manages projects, and publishes about it. Next to teaching, university committees, self-administration, recruiting and hiring, people management, peer reviews, community leadership, etc. Fundraising is called sales, if done by a company. Now, companies have something called customer success. What does this imply for a professor?
Continue reading “What Does Customer Success Mean for a Professor?”Top Three Career Advice for Students
These are the three top pieces of career advice I give to my students:
- Feel comfortable with people and culture
- Be close to revenues, not expenses
- Join a growing organization
Why We Shouldn’t Grade Dissertations
tl;dr — A quality mark of a dissertation is that its reviewers don’t all come from the same university. However, different universities have different grading systems, making average grades meaningless at best and hurtful to the careers of young researchers at worst. So we should move to a pass/fail system of grading.
Continue reading “Why We Shouldn’t Grade Dissertations”There’s More to Research Than Testing Hypotheses
In a recent grant proposal, we proposed to develop a new method and to evaluate it using case study research. By definition, case studies are a good way of evaluating theories where you can’t control all parameters, as is the case with new methods in an open and complex world setting like software engineering.
Interestingly, both reviewers to the proposal asked for hypotheses to test. Why weren’t there any? We had posed open-ended research questions, but no hypotheses that lead to a simple yes/no answer (well, rejection of a null hypothesis or not, usually).
Continue reading “There’s More to Research Than Testing Hypotheses”Good Use of Ancient SD Cards
I finally was able to find a good for of those old (ancient!) SD cards I have flying around. The ministry of education in Bavaria requires that I send exam questions to them before use, by mail (the one without an e-). I can burn the questions to a CD, or put them onto a USB stick, but I presume I can also use my old SD cards. Yay for reuse!
New Evaluation Criteria for Comparison of Object Creation Patterns in ADAP C09
The lecture on object creation, ADAP C09 (edition of winter 2021/22), contained a simple evaluation scheme for comparing different object creation patterns. The scheme was perhaps too simple, and I improved it. The basic three dimensions of comparing the patters are now:
- Ease of reading
- Easy of changing (in place)
- Easy of extending (without changing)